The Essential Phone Part #1

I love the Essential phone and I’ve never even had the chance to use it. I recently sent off several emails to Essential asking various questions and if I could get my hands on a unit for the purpose of a review. Using the GMass plugin, I was able to see that they looked at each of my emails. Guess how many replies I received. If you guessed zero, you would be 100% correct. I get it. I’m new to the technology game. They get emails like that all the time. I’m not going to rise to the top of their heap that easy.

I thought about how I would get the attention of Essential and one idea popped into my head. It’s called “The 10,000-word icebreaker.” This would involve me writing 20 500-word articles, sharing them on social media, emailing them to Essential in the most low key way possible. An email a day would get me nothing other than a spot on the block list. Instead, I will send them one email a week with links to five articles. After that point, I’d remind them of the articles periodically. If I’m unable to get their attention that way, I will write more content.

I have a good feeling about the Essential phone. I am really rooting for it to succeed. I feel like the industry is stuck in an Apple vs. Samsung mindset. Very little attention is paid to the other contenders out there. Google has a nice line of phones. They still don’t get anywhere near the attention Apple and Samsung get. I am not saying Apple and Samsung are undeserving of that attention. Samsung’s phones are outstanding and Apple’s releases are always highly anticipated. That doesn’t mean that other companies should be excluded from the spotlight.

I love the entrance of other companies into the marketplace. It forces the big guys to rethink their strategy or risk being knocked down a peg. Essential’s strategy is clearly stated in their company name. They give you what’s essential because you need it, not because it would make their phone look better in advertisements. I admire that. I feel like the industry is so crowded with gimmicks that it’s hard to tell what makes a phone great and how we need our phones to function. It’s good to know that there’s a company that’s stripping things down and getting back to basics.

Just because a phone is basic doesn’t mean that it’s bad. I’m not saying that the Essential phone is basic by any means. The current industry paradigm forces companies to make cookie cutter phones in the hopes of competing. I don’t think that’s right. Each phone should be judged on an individual basis. The only question people should ask is “Is this a good phone?” If it’s a good phone, it should be regarded as such, not cast aside because it’s different than the others. We’re not going to get the phones of the future unless we start demanding something different. We’re not going to get something different until we stop discounting other phones because they’re not like what the juggernauts are churning out.